Steve is conducting Group Lessons on the Web - Live!

Study with Steve Each Week for Six Consecutive Weeks.

Students say it's like being front and center at one of Steve's classes and being the only one in the room!

Current Classes Listed Below - Sign Up Today

As you look at the class descriptions, keep in mind that Steve has a stronger outlook on levels than most teachers. The Beginner groups are really for beginners and early intermediates.

The intermediate Lead classes (201, 202, 203) are really for both intermediates and advanced players. He finds that many people who think they are
advanced are really intermediates because Steve feels he is advanced and are you at his playing level? Probably not.

Therefore, if you feel you are intermediate or early advanced in flatpicking, register for the Lead 102, 103 or 201 class to start.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the training.

Enroll in Special Sessions

Intro to Online 100 Series Lead and Rhythm Live Class

Please email me to be put on a waiting list or notification if a second class will be offeredsteve@flatpik.com

This
FREE One-Time Saturday class will let you have a chance to try out the Live Online Group Class format and see where the levels begins.

You will get a PDF of the days lesson and a MP4 video link as well as the YouTube link to view and review later.
We will cover Right Hand grip and Left Hand Placements, new songs, new chords and much more.

Prerequisite:
You would want to be comfortable holding and changing your basic chords and maybe learned a melody song like a fiddle tune or Wildwood Flower but that
is not required. We will learn as we go along.

Join in this FREE class and see if you like it.
Then register for the January 14 and or 15 Live Class.

Upper Intermediate Lead Flatpicking Guitar - 2

The student should have completed the Level 200 Series in order to join this class.

Enroll in April-May Sessions

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Enroll in August - September Sessions

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Enroll in October - November Sessions

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Join Steve Kaufman for online Guitar lessons each week from the convenience of your own home or anywhere in the world. Each week, Steve will demonstrate new concepts and exercises along with a new tune (plus a bonus tune for the more ambitious student) to help you improve your guitar technique, make better use of practice time, get more familiar with bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, folk and Gospel music and have more fun playing music on your own and with others.

We will have Four Main Classes in the online series: Rhythm, Beginner Lead, Intermediate Lead adn Upper Intermediate Lead

Rhythm for Beginners and Intermediates - a 101, 102, 103 Series

Lead Flatpicking for Beginners and Early Intermediates - a 101, 102, 103 Series

We will use various household bluegrass favorites and fiddle tunes as vehicles for improving technique, learning the fret board and working toward creating
variations and improvising.

Steve believes that there are a minimum of three levels to each level. In some cases there are more. So each course is broken down into three sections
or levels and progress through the timeframe of the classes. It is suggested for all beginner students to start from the 101 class and all intermediates
to begin with either the beginner 102 or 103 class or the Intermediate 201 class. It never hurts to review.

The Rhythm Course 101-102-103 level courses are designed to teach many styles of rhythm used in Bluegrass, Gospel, Folk and Traditional Country. We will
learn to play solid rhythm, hammer ons, pull offs, bass walks and bass runs, the Numbers System, Sock rhythm and Swing Rhythm, Texas style rhythm and
transitional chord study.

The Lead Flatpicking 101-102-103 level course are designed to help the guitarist at the beginning level improve the fundamentals of his or her playing
and his or her ability to improvise, while expanding repertoire along the way. This three-tier class will bring you from the beginner level into a
solid intermediate guitarist level.

The Lead Flatpicking 201-202-203 level course is designed for the guitarist at an intermediate level to help them expand on improvisational concepts, learn
more about the fret board and push their playing to the next level. This three-tier class by design will bring the student from the early intermediate
level to the crest of advanced.

Ongoing Upper Intermediate Flatpicking Guitar (Students should have been through Steve's Intermediate 201, 202 and 203 Online Classes) will continue where the Lead 203 class left off and will be ongoing in six-week segments of increasingly difficult techniques and pieces. Loads of frustrating fun!

All courses will focus on a these main areas:

Improving knowledge of the fingerboard through tunes, licks, some scale work and Steve’s guidance on how the fingerboard works.

Working toward improvisation using all of the above tools.

Expanding your repertoire of bluegrass and fiddle tunes.

All sessions of the class will be video recorded, so that students may revisit the sessions as often as they would like, and students who were unable to
attend the live sessions will be able to view them at their own convenience. These sessions will be available through a link provided for the duration
of the course and up to three week after the session ends. You can review and take notes.

During the live sessions, students can ask questions via a built-in chat window. We find there is too much noise when everyone's mic. is open.

All students will also have unlimited access to short recorded videos of all of the material played at a slow tempo, PDFs of all material in both standard
notation and tablature, and mp3s of all of the tunes at slow and medium speeds that they can practice along with. Students can access all of this material
at any time through the class website.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the training.

What You Will Need to Participate

A desktop or laptop Mac or PC computer, iPad or Internet-connected mobile device in order to view the sessions, plus a good internet connection. Outdated,
Dinosaur computers seem to have some trouble and require updating. Check your system requirements HERE.

An internal microphone and speakers on your laptop or desktop computer, or a phone to listen and speak (if desired) during the sessions. Instructions
for participating by phone are included when you register for the course (long distance charges may apply).

During the course, you have the option of contacting Steve with questions at steve@flatpik.com. You can also set up a 15 minute private time lesson
via the web. Additional Cost of $25 per 15 minute segment. This is more than enough time with Steve to isolate an issue and resolve a picking problem.

The fee for each course is $175. Students taking two courses simultaneously $25.00 discount.

If you are interested in taking two courses, One Rhythm and One Lead, email steve@flatpik.com to make sure you get the discount. Questions about the courses can also be emailed to steve@flatpik.com

About Steve

Steve has been teaching guitar throughout the world since 1976. Private lessons, group lessons and now internet lessons. This is the best way for Steve
to share his talents with you and you to learn from one of the best educators in the world in the style of Flatpicking Guitar.

Flatpicking Style simply means we will be using a flatpick to play but we are not limited to only Bluegrass. Through continuing classes, we will work on
Traditional Fiddle Tunes, Folk Guitar, Celtic, Swing, Gospel and much more. We may even dabble in a little fingerstyle in the intermediate classes
at some point.

You have probably taken one of Steve’s workshops or private lessons or worked through one of his many, many books and DVDs. You know his smooth and defined
method of teaching delivers the point to all levels and all backgrounds of students. You can and will learn guitar from Steve.
Students from all over the world are now studying from Steve - Live. That is so cool.

Here's What our Students are Saying

John

It’s amazing how fast the sessions go and the information comes at us quick if you include all the extra gems you give us during the lesson. Like the others do I am sure, I am sometimes frustrated that I can’t practice more and learn every bit you show us but then when I realize probably a bit over a year ago I would get a nose bleed past the 5th fret and now play up the neck comfortably at least on the tunes I know. It is really remarkable how far we have come since Lead 102.

Keep it going. This is my “Thursday night picking with the boys”.

Thanks for all your effort!

BB

Hi SteveI just wanted to tell you that I thought it was exceptional in terms of the material you presented with respect to runs, transposing chords, and particularly improvisation. That lesson alone is worth the price of admission.

Beverly

Holy Cow, what a lesson I missed with you guys last week. Good thing you gave us a song with a Cow! I absolutely love that modulation tip! You're right, that is worth it if I don't learn anything else, very powerful. For some reason, I always thought that the bass runs were a set structure (always the same run) going to or from chord. Thx for clarifying that it is not set in stone. Looking forward to Monday

Chuck B

The use of bass walks, seventh chords, alternate chords, learning the chord progression 4 measures at a time, and "tricks" that you provided were great - just what I needed at this time in my journey. The individualized input is also great - "Chuck's right hand death grip" (I'll work on that). I'm looking forward to Rhythm 102 - see you soon and once again Thank you.

Chuck B - Durand, IL

Rhythm 101. A great experience. As you know I have been playing for some time now, but I really gained a lot out of this class. I'm not sure if all of your students realize just how much information and instruction is provided through this approach. I plan on using this information with Finale to change keys (as needed) and BPM to develop practice tracks. It is one thing to play these pieces at a slow speed, but once I get them memorized (off the paper) I will be able to play to the audio, increasing my speed. That in itself is about two years or more of enjoyment and a significant addition to my repertoire. I also anticipate that I will be closer to being able to play rhythm to songs that I don't know - on the fly!

Ed from Arizona

This is only my second on line lesson I’ve taken with you and I am impressed. Especially the practice materials you send, and most importantly the drop box videos to play along with, they’re just so helpful in many ways, even beyond the original lesson. I just felt the need to share this with you.Thanks, really enjoying the ride!

Greg

Thanks for such a beautiful, melodic arrangement of Dark as a Dungeon! I was going through it this morning and had to stop and admire the lovely transitions between C and F that you've written. Measures 8-10 and 28-29 are really extra special. I'm inspired to get them down pat and play them for my best fan (aka, my wife) as soon as possible.

I just wanted to let you know! You always come up with some great licks, but you really blow them away in your waltz-time tunes and these are really special!

J.C. Dallas TX

Steve, thank you, thank you!! I have learned so much! I have TONS of books that I have accumulated over the years, but haven't even come close to "getting" what you have shown us in 6 weeks! Now I will use the summer to absorb from the videos all the neat things included in them and will be really looking forward to September!

JK from Delta, UT

Just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed and learned from your class. You are the best! I have taken lessons from several teachers over the years but none have specialized in bluegrass. I felt like I was being bogged down with a lot of material that really didn't relate to bluegrass. It was so refreshing to see that all the material you taught was spot-on for bluegrass. I can play all the material pretty well now but need to work on increasing the speed and memorizing it all. Excited to see that I will end up with a great collection of tunes I can play with and for family and friends.

JM from Bowmanville, Ontario

I'm really enjoying the lessons. I like the way you are using the tunes as vehicles to teach us concepts that we can then use universally in our playing rather than teaching a particular way to play a particular tune. I have already signed up for the next set.

JM from Davis,Ca.

I'm looking forward to Lead tonight. I've never heard Jesus is Coming Soon. What a great beginners tune with chord variety etc.Thanks and I must say thus far your online classes have been Home Runs!

JM from Reno, NV

Great class tonight. I really appreciate how you show us where else these substitutions could fit, i.e. E blues, etc. One of my many challenges is that when I hear a song, especially if I like the break, everything else sounds “wrong”. You are really helping me break out of that closed-mindedness. Thanks.

JS from Mechanicsville, TN

Just finished the second of Steve Kaufman's online video classes. Great stuff!. It's not really like a workshop, but more like one on one with Steve. It's in real time and you can ask questions in real time but you can still have the video on file as a reference. Very enjoyable.

KH from Waleska, GA

Thanks again. I love this song (Kentucky Waltz). But it is harder than it sounds! I am really enjoying these online lessons. I have most of Steve's books and have been to one of his workshops (Townsend, TN), but for some reason, these online lessons seem to be helping me more than anything I have done. I guess it is the focus and having the lesson on youtube to view several times during the week. But also, these audio files you send are great to play along with over and over. Thanks again and again,

KL

LP from Ontario, Canada

I really like the classes. At first thought it might be too basic (I've been playing for quite some time) but am discovering that your course material is deceptively difficult. And I've also come to realise that knowing chord shapes and 'noodling' around is NOT the same as actually knuckling down and learning a song. Already I feel that my strumming is much better as I'm much more confident and sure ‎with my right hand. The flicking water technique is very good.

Nancy B from Tucson, AZ

One of the things I really appreciate about this instruction is that there is so much support. The you tube video as well as written tab and standard notation for every song was a real plus.When you gave us “add ons” you helped us document the ideas. This relieved tension related to needing to remember everything at the moment and made the class much more relaxed. I was able to absorb more at the time as well as go back and refresh from the video. In all it was a very good experience and I look forward to the next class for rhythm guitar and lead guitar. Best wishes,

NB from AZ

HI Steve. I just wanted to thank you for going into the detail about diminished chords. Besides practicing the songs you are giving us I am trying to see how I can incorporate them into other music I play. I am excited to learn about these chords and how to use them. I am also keeping up with the tunes from the lead classes. Life is full and rich with so much music to enjoy. Thanks.

PG from Rome, GA

Steve- I've really enjoyed the lessons. I thank you for all of your work! The lessons were well presented, thoughtfully progressive and a great way to learn from the comfort of my own cluttered computer room ! I would and have recommended you guitar series . Thanks

SS - Australia

Just thought I’d share my initial thoughts on the online training.I think it’s working great. I really appreciate being able to get the insights of someone of your calibre as far away as Australia. One of my great frustrations over nearly forty years of struggling with guitar is that it is very hard to find someone who structures their instruction in a logical and progressive way. I like your 101-102 approach. It helps me feel like I will progress if I follow the course and practice every day.

SS from Kingston, Australia

My project over the last three months or so has been trying got get down fiddle tunes from your first parking lot pickers Book and CDs, then play along with your bluegrass play-along CD (Four-Hour Bluegrass Work-Out). I really enjoy it and have 15 down now but I can only play the slow versions. I crash at 180-190 BPM. My long term goal is to get up to 240 so I can play fiddle tunes at speed. I nearly fell off my chair when you said you can play at 400 BPM!Of course now I’m trying to concentrate on the proper technique, I've slowed down but I guess someones you need to slow down first to speed up. So it’s good to go back to the simple songs and picking exercises to get the technique correct.

Here's What Folks are Saying About Steve

“As a professional guitar teacher, Kaufman has perfected his teaching skills as much as his picking technique.” Bluegrass Unlimited

“Kaufman patiently teaches and extols the virtues of melodic guitar playing. He also shows that you don’t need an electric guitar and an amp. to be electrifying
on the guitar.” The Music Paper

“Kaufman has a low key, friendly way of presenting his material and he is usually clear in stating his ideas.” California Traditional Music Society

“Kaufman is a formidable player, and the accomplished flatpicker can use his books for guitar contests, for technical exercises, or to develop picking
speed and fingerboard knowledge.” Acoustic Guitar

“Steve Kaufman is great; the boy can pick. He knows what good music is.” Doc Watson

“Kaufman is a monster player. Fluid at any speed and in all registers, he also commands a fine sense of melody which imbues his improvising with a lushness
that eludes many flashy guitarists.” The Chicago Tribune

“Kaufman’s playing is spectacular. His speed is astounding, more so because he never sacrifices tone, never lets his notes blur together. He makes his
acoustic guitar a versatile, expressive lead instrument.” Arkansas Gazette

“Steve is one of the best young flatpickers in the country. And along with his flair for the hot and flashy, he has some additional ammunition like power,
clarity and musical taste.” Dan Crary

“The tone and phrasing is excellent and most important- the melodic sense is superb. You certainly set some high standards for all of us to aspire to.”
John Hartford

Join Us for Web Group Lessons.

Voted #1 Kamp!

Our intent is to maintain
a non-competitive, learning atmosphere that will encourage you to grow musically and seek out new ways of playing your instrument.
Steve Kaufman has put together the strongest team of Guitar, Bass, Old Time and Bluegrass Fiddle, Dobro ™, Old Time and
Bluegrass Banjo, Songwriting and Vocals, Hammered and Mountain Dulcimer and Mandolin instructors the world has to offer.

What's New

Lessons Testimonials

It’s amazing how fast the sessions go and the information comes at us quick if you include all the extra gems you give us during the lesson. Like the others do I am sure, I am sometimes frustrated that I can’t practice more and learn every bit you show us but then when I realize probably a bit over a year ago I would get a nose bleed past the 5th fret and now play up the neck comfortably at least on the tunes I know. It is really remarkable how far we have come since Lead 102.